Busy, Busy, Busy

We had a family wedding last weekend in South Jersey. My sister and BIL came up from VA to babysit. A trip that usually takes them 4 1/2 hours ended up taking 9 1/2 hours due to several Interstate highways being closed for weather related conditions. They stopped along the way to pick up my niece and arrived safe and sound at 10:30PM. My BIL was happy as he was just in time for the Laker's tip-off. Pat and I left for the wedding the next morning. This was the first time both of us would be away overnight. Molly and Aidan waved to us over their shoulders as they headed out to the toy store with their entourage. This after having had chocolate chip cookies with their breakfast. We were not going to be missed!! The wedding was terrific and Pat and I enjoyed some time together as a couple. The kids were good as gold while we were away and made out like bandits at the toy store. Thank you Aunt Bar-buh (and Uncle Charlie).

My BIL drove back to VA (that whole gotta work thing) and my sister stayed for the week. Unfortunately she pickup up a stomach bug and then a nasty cold and wasn't feeling well all week. She was a trooper and never failed to respond to a request of "sing Aunt Bar-buh". We did get out and about a bit during the week including toddler story time at the public library. The kids were glad to have her around. When she wasn't feeling better by Friday I convinced her to go the our local Emergicare center. Turns our she had bronchitis and after she was given a "magic shot" and several prescriptions she was on the road to recovery.



Saturday was my birthday. I also received the honor of being inducted into the Hall Of Athletes at my Almamater, LaSalle University. What a day!! The festivities included a Men's Basketball game on campus followed by a reception. The inductees (there were 4 of us) were introduced at halftime of the basketball game. I was overwhelmed by the number of people who came to support me. Family, friends, teammates and neighbors traveled from near and far. More than 30 in total. The reception was top notch. Good food and adult beverages. The inductees were introduced and we each made some remarks. The event was well done. Afterwards the troops trekked back up the PA turnpike to our house to continue the celebration. My husband had planned everything and did a great job. He also surprised me with a framed LaSalle jersey with my #42 on it. It was also my 42nd birthday. Coincidence? I think not.

In kiddie news....When Molly gets aggressive with Aidan he moves several feet from her, puts his hands on his hips and says "Go ahead Molly push me down". This tactic was successful the first several times as Molly stared at him with a puzzled look on her face. However, the boy is going to need some new material. I saw him try it today and Molly said "okay" and began to chase him. He ran in terror saying "no no, no don't knock me down!!". It was good while it lasted. I had a proud moment today. I had just filled Molly and Aidan's cups with ice and was at the sink filling them with water. There was a buzz around the fridge and I turned to see Molly and Aidan licking the floor trying to pick up tiny pieces of ice with their mouths.

Down for the Count

At 2:00 am on Sunday morning we were awakend by Molly's crying. In addition to crying she was calling for her mama. This is an unusual occurrence as the girl is a champion sleeper. Mommy opens the door to find her little girl standing in her crib, pointing and saying "wet, wet". Mommy immediately thinks that Molly's diaper has been saturated and as a result the sheets are wet. This happens on occasion but she's never woken up in the middle of the night to complain. I begin to feel around to assess the damage and something is definitely wrong. The sheets are wet but there are also shall we say foreign objects that used to be food products in the mix. DUH!!!! What in the world could I have been thinking? In all fairness, this was the first time Molly had been sick to her stomach so it just didn't register. Poor little girl didn't know what was going on. I called in the reinforcements and daddy changed Molly while I stripped the crib. We gave her some ibuprofen for her fever and put her back in her crib. I rubbed her little back and she was snoring before I let the room. Molly woke up the next morning still feeling under the weather. Pat took Aidan to church and the girls stayed home. Molly spent most of the day sitting on her daddy's lap and only ate a few pretzels. I gave her a bath in the afternoon to help with the fever. She began to nod off on the couch shortly before her normal bedtime so I took her up and again she was snoring before I left the room. She slept through the night and woke up the next morning feeling much, much better. Mommy and daddy (and Aidan too!) were very happy. Aidan didn't catch whatever it was that Molly had and we thanked our lucky stars.

Happy Mardi Gras

Well, 'tis the season. The crew I celebrated Mardi Gras with for the past many years left for New Orleans on Thursday (sigh). No time (or money) to trip the light fantastic these days. Besides, I'm having a party right here with my two beautiful kiddies. In honor of the season I dug into my collection and introduced Molly and Aidan to beads. I put a few strands out in the playroom for them to find after their nap. When I joined them in the playroom the beads had been discovered and Molly was sporting all but the one strand she allowed Aidan the have. The girl is bead crazy!! She dances and whirls around with her beads. It is a sight to see. Aidan also enjoys playing with beads but has a hard time getting his hands on any without mom's assistance. It's that whole sharing thing again. The boy has found a different use for beads and it involves trains of course. He drapes his beads over Thomas, Percy and James or fills his freight cars with the precious cargo. They both like to fill cups and bowls with the beads and pour them in and out. Hours of fun which is helpful as were mostly stuck inside due to the chill temps.

This whole talking thing is a hoot. Below are some of our new favorite phrases....

"I don't like it" (multipurpose phrase)
"Too scary" (also multipurpose)
"Two kids" (said when they're doing something together i.e. both sitting on daddy's lap
"Go ahead Molly, push me down" (don't know where this one came from)
"Out" (shouted at top volume while pointing a finger...guess who)
"Who's that?" (when asking mom and dad to identify Disney princesses)
"no thank you" (said while throwing a toy offered by your brother or sister)
"MINES" (no explanation needed)
"I'm busy"
"one minute please"

Aidan has begun to use I, me and my. The other day shortly after his nap he asked me "I have my dinner now?" I gave him a snack and when he was done he repeated "I have my dinner now?" Guess the boy was hungry. I like that they can tell us what they want. We're working on getting them to use words when they need/want something instead of hopping up and down while crying or whining. Slow going but we're making some progress.

Christmas in February

Last night we survived a sacred right of passage for parents. We assembled a kitchen set for Molly and a Geotrax train set for Aidan. We started around 9:00PM and weren't done until 12:30AM. The assembly directions for the kitchen included 19 steps each involving multiple pieces. An engineering degrees was recommended but not required. Pat and I worked well together and there was minimal squabbling. What was the occasion you may ask? Well, these were to be presents for the kids for Christmas but Christmas Eve festivities and a few glasses of wine after Molly and Aidan went to bed put the kibosh on that. Then Pat decided to clean the rug in the playroom before we put everything together so January turned to February and there you have it. The kids were thrilled with their new play things and spent most of the morning playing with them. Aidan was in choo choo heaven and Molly was cooking up a storm. They each played with the other's new toy and exhibited excellent sharing skills (surprise, not always the case!). It was fun to watch them play.

We had a sorry excuse for a snow storm last night and were left with a measly two inches. This was the first accumulation we've had all winter so we had to make the best of it. After breakfast we told the kids that we were going outside to play in the snow. Aidan said to me "I need my bathing suit." Snow suit, bathing suit whatever. We bundled the kids up and they had a blast. They helped daddy shovel the driveway with the shovels from their sand pails. They enjoyed walking through the snow and seeing their foot prints. Pat made them snowballs and not knowing what they were or what you're supposed to do with them Molly quickly deduced that they were to be eaten. She ate one snowball and unhappily left another outside for later. We were out for about an hour and went inside because mom and dad were cold. A much more successful outing than last year when Molly and Aidan cried to go back inside after only 15 minutes in the bitter cold and whipping winds. They'd never make it in their native Kazakhstan.